School Board puts off reopening until Aug. 10

CENTERVILLE -- The St. Mary Parish School Board voted Thursday to delay the opening of school three days to Aug.10 to give staffs more time to get acquainted with plans to deal with COVID-19 restrictions and precautions.

Aug. 7, the date originally chosen to begin the new school year, is also the date when Gov. John Bel Edwards' proclamation mandating masks in public, closing bars, limiting crowd sizes to 50 people, and keeping Louisiana in Phase Two of federal mitigation guidelines is set to expire.

Whether those measures are allowed to expire and whether Louisiana moves into less restrictive Phase Three guidelines after Aug. 7 depend on how the Edwards administration views the COVID-19 statistics at that time. The level of COVID mitigation statewide will guide the precautions schools must take.

Some people feel the delay should have been even longer.

The School Board voted down a motion, after a sometimes contentious discussion, that would have delayed the resumption of classes until after Labor Day, which is Sept. 7.

The votes came after a presentation on the plans for reopening.

School Board member Pearl Rack said she believes more time is needed to hear what teachers and parents have to say about the reopening.

"We do need to stop and get forums and hear what they're saying and then come back and make a decision ...," Rack said. "I can tell you know how I feel because I have two grandchildren in the public school system. I have a daughter who's a teacher in the public school system. This is a good plan, but a lot of things aren't in place."

She asked who will be responsible for making sure children practice social distancing on buses, and how the district will deal with children with diabetes or sickle cell.

Superintendent Teresa Bagwell said the staff has gathered information from families to which more than 5,000 children belong, has followed up with calls about specific needs and has developed a list of frequently asked questions.

"We've been working on this for months," Bagwell said, "and we've tried every means possible to get information and feedback from the people it most directly impacts, and that's the teachers, the parents and the kids."

Parish Councilman Craig Mathews came to the lectern repeatedly to ask for a delay.

"There are people watching this," Mathews said, pointing to a camera used to live-stream the meeting, "your constituents, wondering why we can't delay this three or four weeks."

Mathews said the plan presented to the board Thursday wasn't so much a plan as a rehash of guidance from state and federal officials.

But School Board member Wayne Deslatte, who angrily asked Mathews to stop interrupting the meeting at one point, said that while some parish residents want to delay the opening of school, others want schools to open. Those worried about in-person contact can opt for virtual learning, he said.

School Board President Michael Taylor said he doesn't see the point in delaying the reopening until September.

"This staff has spent days and weeks and months on this," Taylor said, "and it's fluid because we don't know if we'll be in Phase One or Phase Two or Phase Three. So they have to do three different plans."

After declining steadily through April and May, Louisiana COVID-positive tests and hospitalizations began surging upward again in mid-June. The state crossed the 100,000-case threshold Thursday, and the number of hospitalizations is now over 1,500 after dipping to 568.

Since July 1, the number of COVID positives in St. Mary has grown from 489 to 1,215 as of Thursday. Two deaths were reported during that time.